S***hole; S***dean; Theatre of trees. These are just 3 of the many nicknames I have heard during my experience at the Withdean Stadium. As a young Albion fan, aged 16, I for one feel as if it is an end of an era, one that only could be described as a roller-coaster. Both off and on the pitch. It was however, my first proper era at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Though I am 16 years old, I only seriously got involved with the club when we moved to the Withdean Sports Complex in the season On the pitch I saw players of different abilities; witness famous victories; historical triumphs; relegations; promotions; controversial decisions; theatrical antics from managers; cocky celebrations; you name it and I've seen it at the Withdean.
I was a season-ticket holder with my Dad for several years then, in that time I witnessed 3 promotions – including 2 league titles and a play-off final triumph.
I saw well over 100 Brighton players alone, Albion legends and incredibly, 9 managerial reigns from 8 different managers.
I’ve seen passion, determination, commitment, betrayal, judas’, messiahs’, the Lord.
It's amazing to think that we went their only 10 or so years ago and we’ve done so much. Off the pitch, well what can I say; we've had marches and demonstrations all to get ourselves a place that we can finally call home. Falmer Stadium, recently now called The American Express Community Stadium (Amex Stadium).
Dick Knight started it all off. Firstly though saved us from liquidation and got us a ground-share deal with Gillingham for a while before going back to Brighton to the Withdean. Every Brighton fan is in debt for what he has done, a true gentleman and a passionate football fan.
The one thing that will always stand out will be when punk poet, Attila the Stockbroker decided to release a single, Seagull Ska – Tom Hark (We Want Falmer), that single reached number 17 in the charts, got played nationally on BBC Radio 1. All my mates sang it as if it was the national anthem on a regular basis.
The chant at the start of that song: “Prescott give us our ground”, echoed at the Millenium Stadium . when Danny Cullip unravelled that banner, after we won the Play-Offs’s, thanks to a converted penalty by former-striker, Leon Knight in the then Division 2 Play-Off Final 2004. All I could think about was what the stadium will be like and now, 6 years down the line, all I can think about is when I go through those turnstiles.
So much was done in an effort for the club we hold so dearly that on the 28th October 2005, John Prescott, the then Deputy Prime Minister, rewarded all of our efforts. I was 12 then, round my Dad’s and saw it flashed on Sky Sports News:
“Breaking News: Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott has granted permission for a stadium to be built at Falmer for Brighton and Hove Albion FC”
I looked at my Dad and said we’ve done it. My Dad was in shock, though we both knew the decision was going to go in our favour, we still went mental that day. Chanting Prescott’s name:
“He's Fat;
He's Round;
He's given us our ground;
John Prescott, John Prescott"
Falmer was coming our way, 2008/2009 season and we’ll be at Falmer.
But we were so wrong. The roller-coaster ride still wasn’t finished. Lewes District Council appealed, claiming that part of the land used for this went into their district and not Brighton & Hove’s. I never knew the ins and outs of it at the time, but I got told it was the size of a car parking space to which I said to my PE teacher “they’re taking the utter piss aren’t they sir!?”. I got an after-school detention and all I did was talk about the Albion in that detention, best punishment in the world I thought.
A judicial review, which took 3 years, gave the same decision John Prescott did. If Lewes weren’t so tight, then I would’ve said “Bye-Bye Withdean and Hello Falmer” years ago, but now we’ve started the countdown for Falmer and now I honestly can’t wait!
Back on the pitch, tomorrow will start the closing of a chapter that I will hold dear. The end of Withdean Stadium. Tomorrow ex-Albion manager Mark McGhee, nicknamed by some fans as Mid-Table McGhee when he started his reign, will return to the Withdean for the first time with SPL side, Aberdeen.
I shall be attending this game after enjoying what has been a more competitive pre-season for us and, a consensus can be made here, am relishing Gus Poyet’s first full season in management with the Albion.
I had the pleasure of talking to Mr Poyet, not too long ago before a friendly game at my local club, Burgess Hill Town FC, and I saw a man who has a clear vision, not for himself, but for the club, the conversation changed from his row on a BBC radio station over Luis Suarez straight to the Albion and was very interested in what he was talking about. He seemed more obsessed than me over the Albion, which is great to see. I’m hoping he stays with us beyond his, recently signed, four-year contract.
Withdean Stadium , though it is an athletics track than a football ground, not going to lie there, will always be considered as a home for Brighton for me. Though I may get a few piss takers from people on the notorious NSC (northstandchat.co.uk), which infamously sold Guy Butters on eBay for £5, for what I’ve just said but I really do think it was a home.
As a young fan, I never had the pleasure of having fond memories that many of the more mature Albion fans may possess during Albion’s tenure at the Goldstone Ground, and I may not have the same amount of hatred for Bellotti and that Archer bloke we had call `Chairman`. But I still hold the passion for this club and I am certain that this club is going nowhere but up, up and away!
Tomorrow at 1500 BST, a whistle will blow around Brighton and Hove Albion. Around the United Kingdom. Around the world. Though the referee will only think it will signify the start of another pre-season friendly and a few bob coming his way, it will also signify the end of a chapter, the end of an era, and a fresh new page in the club’s history. Possibly the most invaluable whistle-blow any Brighton fan will hear in their life, that whistle starts the Road to Falmer!
Though I wasn’t there when this whole thing started, I will, however, tell my kids, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren that I was there when the Falmer Stadium opened. I was there when Brighton and Hove Albion became a top club again, and you can join me and watch history-in-the-making. I’ll see you lot at the top.